It shouldn’t happen at home

Thunder meltdown: With playoffs approaching, it’s no time for poor timing

By John Rohde

March 29, 2010

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Thunder coach Scott Brooks kept pleading for more effort. He begged for better rebounding. He screamed for more of everything. He dangled a day off in his players’ face.

To no avail.

Unlike two nights earlier against the world champion Lakers, the Thunder never got rolling Sunday night inside the Ford Center, which resulted in a 92-87 loss to Portland.

We all realize the 82-game regular season is a marathon, not a sprint. Teams will have off nights. Occasionally, your body is tired and simply won’t respond.

None of these shortcomings should transpire at home, however. Sunday was the team’s 24{+t}{+h} sellout (18,203) of the season. The crowd certainly provided an energy source, but the Thunder short-circuited.

Given how good Portland is, this outcome doesn’t qualify as a choke, but the Thunder certainly wasn’t clutch.

After a scintillating performance on Friday, the Thunder (44-28) failed to capitalize against a team that’s within percentage points of gaining a higher playoff seed.

"I thought our guys played with a lot of energy and a lot of effort, after the first four or five minutes,” Brooks said. "We played hard, but lost the game ... Portland was better down the stretch tonight. That happens.”

The playoffs are approaching, and it’s easily noticeable in the Thunder’s expressions. The normally well-composed Brooks is far more animated on the sideline. He’s not so quick to accept crappy calls from officials.

The difference in the game came in a span of 0.7 seconds, during which the Trail Blazers scored seven unanswerable points.

With 0.1 left in the first quarter, Portland guard Jerryd Bayless got two free throws on what was a clean block by Eric Maynor.

With 0.6 left in the second quarter, Trail Blazers forward Nicolas Batum tipped in a Brandon Roy miss.

As the third-quarter buzzer sounded, Roy banked in a 3-pointer from the right wing.

These sequences sting because there’s no opportunity to counter punch. The Blazers slapped the Thunder across the face at the end of three straight periods, and there wasn’t a thing the home team could do about it.

The Thunder had just 13 assists, a tell-tale sign a team is not moving the ball. Brooks noted his team’s poor spacing offensively. "We were playing too much one-on-one,” Brooks said.

No argument here.

The Thunder was a half-step off, particularly at the outset, trailing by 10 early in the second quarter. With the playoffs approaching, this is no time for poor timing.

Though Sunday night’s game was undeniably important, Brooks pointed out they’re all important when you’re headed toward the playoffs.

"If I told the fans this game was more important than any other game, then what about the other games?” Brooks said. "What about Game 39? They pay top dollar for these tickets, and you’re basically telling the fans it’s not important. Just come when it’s really important at the very end of the season, and that’s not fair.

"I tell our guys, ‘We all have a job to do for 82 games, and we all have to come up with effort for 82 games.’ ”

Therein lies the beauty of Sunday night, win or lose.

The game mattered. Last year at this time, the Thunder was 20-52 and not much mattered.

John Rohde: 475-3099. John Rohde can be heard Monday-Friday from 6-7 p.m. on The Sports Animal Network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1.

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